Downing has enjoyed success at the Tour of Britain in the past, three times bagging a top-ten placing overall and also enjoying 21 top-ten stage finishes – though he is yet to top the podium.

Also among the riders to miss out is Josh Hunt, who started the An Post Ras and was in the team at RideLondon.

Dale Appleby, who rides his first Tour of Britain since starting the race with Team Raleigh in 2010, does make the cut, alongside debutant Hugh Wilson – the team’s best-placed finisher at the An Post Ras.

Welsh team pursuit rider Sam Harrison is also set to make his Tour of Britain debut, as does fellow 22-year-old James Lowsley-Williams.

And the six-man line-up is completed by Welsh rider Jon Mould, who rides on the back of victory in the Leicester Castle Classic having previously won three rounds of the Tour Series and April’s Castle Combe Easter Classic.

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